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Exam poster

Movies that feel likeExam (2009)

Eight talented candidates have reached the final stage of selection to join the ranks of a mysterious and powerful corporation. Entering a windowless room, where an armed guard keeps watch, they are given 80 minutes to answer one simple question.

If you loved Exam, the closest films we have are The Ghost Writer (2010), The Hidden Face (2011) and Kahaani (2012). All three share Exam's tense and twisty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Rojo (2018).

🍅 61% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Stuart Hazeldinetensetwisty
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If Exam hit the spot, these will too

The Ghost Writer poster
The Ghost Writer
2010 · dir. Roman Polanski
🍅 84%★ 7.2thriller · mysteryPrime VideoStarz

The same mix in both: tension, then twists

A writer stumbles upon a long-hidden secret when he agrees to help former British Prime Minister Adam Lang complete his memoirs on a remote island after the politician's assistant drowns in a mysterious accident.

The Hidden Face poster
The Hidden Face
2011 · dir. Andrés Baiz
★ 7.3thriller · mystery

Thriller built on tension, twice over

A Spanish orchestra conductor deals with the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend.

Kahaani poster
Kahaani
2012 · dir. Sujoy Ghosh
🍅 100%★ 8.1mystery · thriller

Mystery with a pulse of twists, in both cases

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

Pregnant and alone in the city of Kolkata, a woman begins a relentless search for her missing husband, only to find that nothing is what it seems.

Identity poster
Identity
2003 · dir. James Mangold
🍅 64%★ 7.3mystery · thriller

Both lean on tension more than on thriller

Complete strangers stranded at a remote desert motel during a raging storm soon find themselves the target of a deranged murderer. As their numbers thin out, the travelers begin to turn on each other, as each tries to figure out who the killer is.

Knock at the Cabin poster
Knock at the Cabin
2023 · dir. M. Night Shyamalan
🍅 67%★ 6.1thriller · mysteryNetflix

Twisty mystery, and it commits to that

While vacationing at a remote cabin, a young girl and her two fathers are taken hostage by four armed strangers who demand that the family make an unthinkable choice to avert the apocalypse. With limited access to the outside world, the family must decide what they believe before all is lost.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy poster
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2011 · dir. Tomas Alfredson
🍅 84%★ 7drama · thriller · mystery

The same thriller instincts

The difference: Sits closer to drama than Exam does

George Smiley, the aging master spy of the Cold War and once heir apparent to Control, is brought back out of retirement to flush out a top level mole within the Circus. Smiley must travel back through his life and murky workings of the Circus to unravel the net spun by his nemesis Karla 'The Sandman' of the KGB and reveal the identity of the mole before he disappears.

The Da Vinci Code poster
The Da Vinci Code
2006 · dir. Ron Howard
🍅 25%★ 6.7thriller · mysteryNetflixStarz

Both are mystery through and through

A murder in Paris’ Louvre Museum and cryptic clues in some of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery. For 2,000 years a secret society closely guards information that — should it come to light — could rock the very foundations of Christianity.

Rojo poster
Rojo
2018 · dir. Benjamín Naishtat
🍅 96%★ 6.3drama · mystery · thriller

Both know what they want from thriller

A small town in an Argentinian province, 1975. The life of Claudio, a successful lawyer, gets complicated when he has a stupid quarrel with a stranger in a crowded restaurant.

Joint Security Area poster
Joint Security Area
2000 · dir. Park Chan-wook
🍅 88%★ 7.7drama · thriller · mystery

The mystery is handled with the same confidence

Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the border area between North and South Korea, prompting an investigation by a neutral body. The lead investigator (Lee Young-ae) receives differing accounts from the two sides.

The Man Who Knew Too Much poster
The Man Who Knew Too Much
1934 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 88%★ 6.7thriller · mysteryPrime VideoMax

Thriller approached the same way

The difference: 75 years apart, and the 1930s show

While vacationing in St. Moritz, a British couple receive a clue to an imminent assassination attempt, only to learn that their daughter has been kidnapped to keep them quiet.

The Firm poster
The Firm
1993 · dir. Sydney Pollack
🍅 77%★ 6.9drama · mystery · thrillerMaxParamount+

Both working the same mystery territory

Mitch McDeere is a young man with a promising future in Law. About to sit his Bar exam, he is approached by 'The Firm' and made an offer he doesn't refuse. Seduced by the money and gifts showered on him, he is totally oblivious to the more sinister side of his company. Then, two Associates are murdered. The FBI contact him, asking him for information and suddenly his life is ruined. He has a choice - work with the FBI, or stay with the Firm. Either way he will lose his life as he knows it. Mitch figures the only way out is to follow his own plan...

The Village poster
The Village
2004 · dir. M. Night Shyamalan
🍅 43%★ 6.6drama · mystery · thrillerHulu

Thriller of the same temperament

When a willful young man tries to venture beyond his sequestered Pennsylvania hamlet, his actions set off a chain of chilling incidents that will alter the community forever.

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The best-reviewed films that share Exam’s defining feeling.